Small claims court offers individuals and small businesses a straightforward way to collect on owed debts or other small instances that are financially affecting them. From bad checks to unpaid bills, there are a variety of situations that can escalate to small claims court. Presenting evidence allows you to prove your case. After taking someone … Read more
Below is an interesting case that crossed my desk. It appears, from reading the complaint, that the consumer was behind on their payments. While the lender could enforce their legal rights under the law and contract, it appears sub-agents of the lender may have just taken this repossession a few steps too far when they … Read more
by Paul Alan Levy Pursuant to the settlement in Smith v Garcia and Chief Judge Smith's ensuing order in that case, counsel for Richart Ruddie arranged to have a motion filed in the names of Bradley Smith and his debt relief company, Rescue One Financial LLC, asking a state court judge in Baltimore Maryland to … Read more
Copy of Federal Trade Commission lawsuit filed against DeVry Education Group, DeVry University, and Devry/New York on January 27, 2016.
Lawsuit filed by insider against ITT Technical Institute that is referenced in this article.
Today I received the following demand from a law firm that says it represents Howard Law, another law firm. I’m not sure why Howard Law wouldn’t just contact me directly to clear up any confusion or answer questions instead of sending me a cease and desist letter. I contacted Howard Law by email previously but … Read more
by Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Chris Arnold, NPR, Sep. 15, 2014, 5 a.m. This story was co-published with NPR. Back in 2009, Kevin Evans was one of millions of Americans blindsided by the recession. His 25-year career selling office furniture collapsed. He shed the nice home he could no longer afford, but not a $7,000 … Read more
A friend asked me recently what really happens to people who are being sued over a defaulted federal student loan that was referred to the Department of Justice by the Department of Education. So I had to do what I typically do with these types of questions and spent hours and hours pouring over lawsuits … Read more
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris yesterday filed an enforcement action against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase) alleging that the bank engaged in fraudulent and unlawful debt-collection practices against tens of thousands of Californians. The suit alleges that Chase engaged in widespread, illegal robo-signing, among other unlawful practices, to commit debt-collection abuses against approximately 100,000 California … Read more
Help! I Found a Judgment on My Credit Report (via Credit.com)It’s scary enough to owe money you can’t pay back, but what may be even worse is finding out that you have already been sued for a debt, but didn’t even know it. Mark wrote on the Credit.com blog: I received a letter stating there was a judgment against me from 9-13-2006 and they’re trying…
“All debt collection is under the microscope,” said Chris DeRitis, Ph.D., a consumer credit expert at Moody’s Analytics, a West Chester economic research and consulting firm. “A lot of this debt gets traded three, four or five times. It’s a messy business.” The issue has similarities to abuses in the foreclosure process that led to … Read more
A tipster (send in your tips here) sent in a copy of a lawsuit filed by Edward Tudor, which is a fictitious name registered by Ed Cherry, of Hess Kennedy fame. The suit was filed on behalf of Growth Capital Partners as well, a company we’ve talked about before. In September of 2011 a suit … Read more
Just when you though we were done with the foolishness of spending local government money to assist debt collectors, a loophole in Missouri allows creditors to have consumers tossed in jail. Now don’t get too worried, this is happening because people are missing court dates. But consumers are also being setup for this as well. … Read more
I’d love to take credit for the tips that are made here but Peter Holland of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is the one that deserves the credit for writing a fantastic paper outlining the process. Holland provides amazing advice here and I wish we’d see more such academic papers … Read more
PART I: WHERE DO I START? Every collection lawyer and nearly every court views all collection lawsuits the same: a mindless task they don’t really want to do. They were trained for bigger and better things. More “important” things. However, it is the exact opposite for the consumer defendant. It is extremely important given that … Read more